Another Chance
by Charli Fox
Summary: With Tony Thorpe is off the hook and Sara has to get on with her next case, where a man has died under mysterious circumstances *Finished*
1. Prologue

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Disclaimer - Nope still don't own them.

A/N - Set half way through Season 2.

**Another Chance**

Prologue

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"Don't you touch me man!" the sixteen year old shouted as he tried to escape Tony Thorpe's tight grip "I didn't do nothing!"

"You tried to hurt me boy, Jamie, over there", he said angrily as he pushed Robert Scott up against the wall. Robert punched Tony viciously in his mid section and threw him back; Tony fell against the frame of a nearby bed, his head connecting with the metal, dazing him.  Jamie watched the scene with wide eyes he began backing out of the room "stop it" he pleaded, when they ignored him he ran from the scene.

Robert watched the boy go then turned his attentions back to Tony "you ain't never gonna push me around again, Thorpe."  Robert slowly advanced; he produced a blade from his back pocket.

Tony blinked a couple of times to try and wake himself up, he put a hand to his head and felt a wet patch, blood dripped onto his face. He stood on shaky legs and stared at his attacker, Robert raised his weapon hand in preparation to strike down the person before him "Rob, man, come on, don't be stupid" Tony was furious now.  Robert didn't listen he brought the blade down, murder his intention, Tony grabbed his arm in mid air "I'm gonna kill you fool!"

They struggled for the weapon until they fell to the floor, neither of them moved, one of them in shock, the other dead.

*

"Can't this kid stay out of trouble?"  Nick stood over the body taking photographs; Grissom looked around as he made his way to where Nick stood.

"Obviously not, though in this case he's claiming he's the victim."

Nick stopped taking the pictures and looked at his boss in disbelief at the update "your kidding."

Grissom shrugged slightly and shook his head in answer "that's what he said."

"Everything seems pretty straight forward…Thorpe murdered this poor kid with a weapon he cooked up all by himself" Nick knelt beside Robert and picked up the bloodied weapon, bagging it.

"Nick…" Grissom said as he surveyed the new crime scene "nothings ever that simple."

TBC 


	2. Chapter One

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Another Chance

Chapter One

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"You think I killed him! Don't you? Damn it man I had enough of his crap!" Tony abruptly stood up from his chair and threw it back, it landed hard against the wall, and Catherine watched calmly him from the other side of the table.

"There's a dead body and you were the only one there, you already have a record…what do you expect us to think?"

Brass picked up the chair and put it back in place "it might be hard for you to do this but, why don't you sit down and act like a civilised person."

Tony shot Brass an angry look and pulled the seat back to sit down "It's alright if you do you're jobs properly you'll see its all his own fault" he slumped back in the chair and folded his arms, smirking.

"So tell us what happened" Brass waited expectantly.

"It happened like this…I was waiting for Jamie when Robert walked in, he got all up in my face and I pushed him back, he said some bad things about Jamie and I grabbed him. We started arguing, he punched me and threw me back against the bed, and I hurt me head pretty bad. Next thing I know he's coming at me with a blade, we fight over it and we fell on the floor, I land on him and he don't move. I stood up and he's stabbed himself." He looked from Brass to Catherine and back again "that's what happened! But you don't believe that."

"We'll believe the evidence," Catherine said as she rose from her chair.

*

Brass joined Catherine outside and they both watched, as Tony was lead to the cells "I believe him."

Brass faced her, surprised "you do?"

"Yeah, we got a couple of prints off the knife, it was Robert Scott's and Jamie Fielding's."

"He could've…had gloves on."

"We're looking at this from every angle and right now, the evidence substantiates his story" she shrugged "he didn't kill that kid."

"What's he doing here?"

Catherine looked at the now empty corridor then back to the woman who had spoken, Sara stood in front of her "who?"

Sara looked at her frustrated "Tony Thorpe! Who did he try and kill this time?"

"You know him?" Catherine enquired.

Sara ignored her question "this is why Grissom didn't put me on this case, isn't it? Damn him!" she turned around and marched back up the corridor.

Catherine waited for an explanation from Brass "what was that about?" they continued walking down the corridor.

"He was involved in a case that Sara, Grissom and Nick worked a little under a year back. We worked it a s a homicide but the vic survived…"

Catherine nodded in understanding "it's a good job she isn't on this case cause it doesn't look like he's guilty."

*

Sara bumped into Grissom as he walked out of the break room "I want to be put on you're case."

He re-entered the break room and Sara followed him and closed the door "No" he bluntly refused. 

Sara didn't back down though "why?"

"You don't know one thing about this case yet and you already think he's guilty, Sara…you're already working with Warrick…"

"I can switch" she tried another angle, she _needed _to work this case, Tony Thorpe deserved to go to prison.

"You could…but I don't want you to" he couldn't imagine how much Sara wanted this case but he knew if he let her have her way, she'd be judging Thorpe by what he did to Pamela Adler. She'd try and find evidence to convict Tony of murder, evidence that wasn't there. "I'm sorry."

She looked at him coldly; she shook her head "yeah…right."

She met Warrick by the car park as he came to get her, to take her to their crime scene "I need to go somewhere first I'll meet you there" she told him.

He nodded "okay, don't take too long, I wouldn't want to take all the credit for cracking the case."

*

She took in every bit of detail about the crime scene, anything that was clean had been taken out, so now out of the twelve beds that had been in the room, only one remained, the small bedside tables had also been removed. There was a small pool of blood about twelve feet away from the bed, footprints littered the area, it would be hard to distinguish whose were whose. Sara walked over to the one bed and knelt down at the side of it, there was dried blood, Thorpe had told the truth about that at least, she just had to change a few small details and he'd go down for murder, finally.

She stood up and backed away from the bed, "What are you doing here?"

Sara smiled at Catherine "just checking out the crime scene…"

Catherine looked at her puzzled "Grissom decided to put you on the case?" She wasn't convinced.

Sara just started walking out of the room, Nick walked into the room "Hey, you're on this case? I thought you were with Warrick this time."

Sara nodded "I was on my way there." She carried on walking.

Catherine took out her phone "who are you calling?" Nick asked as he walked over to where she stood.

"Grissom…he wouldn't have put her on this case."

"She wouldn't tamper with evidence Cath!" he said, defending his friend.

"Grissom its Catherine…did you send Sara down to our crime scene?" She heard him sigh on the other end of the line and she had her answer "no she's gone now…bye." She turned and faced Nick "she shouldn't have been here Nick."

"She wouldn't tamper with evidence", he said again.

*

Sara walked into the medium sized room and sat down next to the bed, everything looked much the same as it had the week before, pale blue wallpaper, white carpet, a couple of chairs by the window, a chest of drawers beside the bed, a wardrobe next to the door. Some more flowers had been placed on the bedside cabinet, carnations, the smell hovered by the bed, it was…nice.

Pamela Adler lay in the bed, her eyes closed, Sara wondered why, she'd been sat up yesterday, and she'd been smiling. That didn't mean much though she was always smiling; it was her way of saying "hello I feel fine today." 

A nurse walked into the room and she smiled when she saw Sara "hi Sara, how are you today?"

"I'm fine" it was the same every week, same question, same answer, same nurse, same routine.

"She had another seizure" the nurse told her "she likes it when you come to see her, you brighten up her day." The nurse left Sara and Pamela in the room; she closed the door behind her.

"Tony Thorpe was arrested today, for murder, it doesn't look like he did it…I wanted to…change the evidence so he'd be arrested for this murder…I didn't do it, I couldn't do it. It would've been so easy to do, nobody would know…it isn't right that he didn't get punished for what he did to you."

Grissom didn't need to hear what she was saying, her watched her through the door window, and she was facing him so he could read her lips, read her body language. He needed to speak with her. He opened the door.


	3. Chapter Two

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Another Chance

Chapter Two

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Sara looked up abruptly from her place beside the bed, her sad smile turned into a frown when she saw Grissom standing by the door "what are you doing here? How long have you been standing there?"

"Long enough, Sara" he said sadly. He didn't accuse her of anything or look disappointed he just stood there, and that was worse, she didn't know what he was feeling.

She stood up and became defensive "you were listening in on my _private _conversation!"

"I didn't listen…I read you're lips" he said correcting her.

"You shouldn't have done that either" Sara said angrily.

"What are you doing here, Sara?" he looked at Pamela Adler, at least she wasn't listening to their argument.

"She isn't evidence anymore, Grissom" Sara told him coldly, she regarded the woman next to her "I visit her, I promised I would" she added.

"Catherine called me and told me you were at the crime scene…I --" he was cut off.

"Save it, I don't want to hear how much you're disappointed in me, how you never thought I could do something so stupid, how I'm supposed to follow the evidence…not tamper with it" she sat back down and looked at Pamela. "The Nurse said that she can still hear people speaking, I don't want her to hear us arguing…can we talk about this somewhere else" she asked, Grissom nodded and opened the door for her to walk through. Sara closed the door gently behind her and they stayed in the corridor.

"I was disappointed…at first and then I realised that you were being led by you're anger, you weren't thinking straight, you were protecting Pamela…"

__

At least he didn't forget her name call her Jane Doe Sara thought briefly. "It wouldn't have been right to frame Thorpe, if I had then the real culprit would get away and this victim would never receive the justice he deserves."

"I can't say I like what you wanted to do but I'm proud that in the end you did the right thing…don't you have a case to work on?" He broke the sudden uncomfortable silence and Sara nodded.

"Uh yeah, Warrick's probably sent out a search party…what are you going to do?"

"You had a moment of weakness it happens to everyone, you didn't follow through with you're intentions…" he said shrugging.

Sara smiled warmly "thank you." She began to walk down the corridor "are you coming?"

Grissom nodded "in a minute." Sara nodded and continued to walk away, Grissom silently walked back into Pamela's room, and he sat down in the chair Sara had previously occupied. "I'm not very good at things like this…I can't promise you that Tony Thorpe will go to prison, the prospect of that happening is growing less likely everyday. I can promise you that Sara will never give up trying, and neither will I." 

*

"Where have you been? I'm almost done here" Warrick asked, slightly agitated when he saw Sara enter the house, their crime scene.

"Hello to you too Warrick" she said absently as she surveyed the room "the bodies moved already."  
"Brilliant observation Sherlock."

"So tell me you're findings Watson" she waited expectantly.

"Victim is Roger Hall he was found by his wife Heidi two and half hours ago…"

"Cause of death?"

"Don't know yet, the body was…weird" he said.

Sara looked up at him, mildly amused "that's very scientific of you."

"The body was twisted, the hands curved over like claws, the face had a sadistic smile…it was creepy" he shuddered for added effect.

"Well no obvious signs of a struggle…possible weapon?" she asked.

"Nope, nothing, nada, zilch, just a dead body in an otherwise perfectly clean house,"

"Have you interviewed the wife?"

"I was leaving that to you."

"I heard the police say they thought it was an overdose" Heidi Hall sniffed and looked tearfully at Sara "we were so happy together!" She began sobbing "I'm sorry."  
Sara smiled politely "that's alright…what time did you find you're husband?"

Heidi thought for a second before answering "12:30pm, I'd been grocery shopping and he was just lying there…"

"Thank you for you're co-operation Mrs Hall…you can go now" Heidi nodded and rose from the couch, Warrick seeing that the interview was done came over to join Sara "I don't believe her." She watched Heidi as a cop comforted her. "She said the cops thought it was an overdose but there's no evidence of that…no bottle, no loose tablets and we haven't released any information. Secondly she told me she'd been shopping but there's no bags and even if there was, if you had just found a loved one, dead, would you find the time to put away the groceries?" 

Warrick shook his head in response "we just have to find out how he died and prove that she killed him."

*

"Jamie we found you're prints on the murder weapon, if you didn't kill Robert Scott, how did they get there?" Grissom asked as he watched closely for a reaction from his prime suspect.

Jamie shrugged and looked around nervously "I ran out when Tony and Robert were arguing."

"The evidence tells us otherwise."  
"Jamie looked like he wanted to burst into tears "I…I…I didn't mean to, it was an accident!" he said quietly.

"What happened?" Grissom asked.

"Jamie looked up fearfully "he, he said he was gonna get me, I told Tony and he went to Robert and they argued…I wanted to leave but Robert pushed Tony and pulled out the knife. I ran over to him and he pushed me away…"

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"You'll get you're turn" Robert sneered, he looked away from Jamie and concentrated on Tony, "I'm gonna kill you!"

Jamie lunged forward and they fought for the knife "you're not gonna hurt me again!" Jamie screamed, he clutched at the knife and backed away.

"What? You're going to kill me? You couldn't do that, you don't have the guts" Robert taunted. Jamie ran at Robert and pushed him back, he brought the knife down.

"I was scared of him, of what he'd do! I didn't mean to kill him!" Jamie began panicking.

Brass took him by the arm "lets go kid." He led Jamie Fielding out of the interrogation room. They'd found the real killer and Tony Thorpe was going to be free.

TBC


	4. Chapter Three

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Another Chance

Chapter Three

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Doc Robbins was waiting for Sara and Warrick to see the body for themselves, he wanted to see their reactions, his own had been shocked, he hadn't seen anything like it. Ten minutes later they swung through the door, Sara got her first look at the victim "God…that's creepy."

"You say creepy I say weird," Warrick said, as he looked upon the body again "what do you have for us?" his question was directed at Doc Robbins.

"Not much…"

"You mean this…" Sara indicated the body "doesn't tell you anything?"

"What did he look like when you found him?"

"His back was arched so only his head and the heels of his feet touched the ground…the face was all contorted like it is now…weird" Warrick told him.

"The grinning effect is known as _risus sardonicus_, the pupils dilate, and the fingers are clenched…I might have at first suggested tetanus but the fixation of the chest doesn't occur in tetanus…I did find these though." He handed Sara a container with a few small colourless crystals inside "I spoke to a friend of mine earlier, he suggested I look specifically for these."

"What does he think they are?" Warrick asked.

"Well he saw a body in this state a few years ago, it turns out the victim had an overdose of strychnine, had been injected with it actually. Though I haven't noticed any ominous needle marks on the body, it could still be strychnine." He pointed to the crystals "treat them with a drop of sulphuric acid and touch the edge of the solution with a yellow crystal of potassium chromate…if it is strychnine then the solution should turn purple, change to crimson, then fade completely."

"It'll be hard to prove murder, small amounts of strychnine is used in all sorts of things" Sara told them as she eyed the crystal "hard, but not impossible."

Warrick started to walk away "lets get moving then…I'll go back to the house, see if I can find anything I might have missed."  
"Then I'll test the crystals…thanks Doc" the CSI's walked out to start their tasks.

*

"I told you I was innocent, " Tony said cockily as he was led down the corridor to exit the building.

"You'll slip up eventually" Grissom told him confidently as he watched the kid go, he saw Sara watch Tony leave and he walked over to her "he was innocent."

She shrugged like she didn't care "I guessed as much…can't win them all, Grissom, you know that."

They walked side by side down the hall "I do believe we'll get him for something, eventually" he tried to reassure her, he was actually doing a pretty good job.

"It's a shame someone else might have to die first, for us to be able to get him" she turned into the lab "I've got a case to work, I'll see you later." That was his signal to leave, now he was the one being dismissed and Sara the one getting back to work. Grissom stayed where he was "is there something you want?" Sara asked as she looked up from her work.

He nodded slightly "yes."

"Something that I can help you with" she emphasised the '_I_.

He licked his lips as he thought carefully about his answer "yes, when your ready."

She glanced down at the solution in front of her "it turned purple!"

"What?"

"Can we maybe finish this later, Grissom?" she hated leaving their conversation in the air like that but she needed to share her findings with Warrick, she relaxed when Grissom nodded, giving her, her answer.

*

Sara met Warrick at the vic's house, having already told Warrick what she'd found and run a check on the wife, she'd found some interesting things "turns out Mrs Hall, the all loving and devoted wife has had four other marriages in the last five years. They all died under mysterious circumstances. She was a suspect in husband number three's murder but there was never any evidence to convict her, she's moved around a lot too, never staying in the same place too long. She met her first husband in England and he was a veterinary scientist."

"Well they use strychnine, right? For killing seals and rodents, it would've been easy for her to get a hold of it…I haven't found anything yet, not even a medicine bottle."

"Well she must have it hidden around here somewhere…he was diabetic, right?" Sara asked.

"Yeah, what are you thinking?"

"Well, what if she didn't have the chance to inject him herself? He's gonna notice if she tries to stick a needle in his foot, a place where a needle prick might be missed…"  
Warrick got on Sara's thought train "you think maybe it wasn't insulin in the needle, she switched it with strychnine…we need those needles."

"Heidi Hall isn't as clever as she thinks she is."

TBC… 


	5. Chapter Four

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Another Chance 

Chapter Four

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Heidi Hall, it turned out was a pretty good actress, better than Sara and Warrick had first thought, they'd gotten a warrant for the needles and shown it to her, as if on cue tears poured out of her eyes and trailed down her bronzed face. "Ho…how could you th…think I'd do something so, so…atrocious!" her eyes blazed, a truly wonderful and most believable performance.

"She should be at Juilliard" Warrick whispered to Sara as Heidi walked slowly and in a dazed fashion, to the couch.

"Maybe she is and that's another of her secrets, what's one more?" They followed Heidi and stood in front of her, she looked up at them, her face tear stained "we're just looking at this from every possible angle" Sara said with a fake smile.

Heidi nodded "I understand, I'll get the syringes" she left the room and the two CSI's and Brass heard her walking up the stairs.

"If I didn't know the truth about her, I'd believe her" Brass said as he watched Warrick and Sara take another quick look around the living room.

Heidi came back down the stairs a few minutes later she handed a small case containing the syringes, to Warrick, she batted her eye lashes at him and smiled "this is everything Mr Brown, if I can be of anymore help just call me."  
They thanked her and exited the house "if we hadn't have been in there she'd have given you her number" Sara told him.

"Then probably the keys to the house" Brass added.

"And in a few months time you'd be husband number five" Sara smirked as he shivered at the thought.

"Dead husband number five…I'm glad I know what she is" he turned back to the house "if walls could talk."

"If these walls could talk the stories the tales would be the basis for the next Hollywood thriller" Sara and Warrick nodded at that remark, Heidi watched them from the front window and when they saw her she waved like she was saying goodbye to friends…or potential victims.

*

Greg didn't hear Warrick and Sara, he was too busy listening to some music that could be heard throughout the room despite the fact Greg was wearing headphones, he waved his hands above his head like he was at a concert. Warrick took one of the earphones away from his ear "Hey!" he shouted.

Greg looked like he was about to have a heart attack "you don't have to shout I can hear you perfectly well."

"Then why didn't you hear us shouting?"

"I was just…ignoring you" he defended himself.

"Well now that we have you're attention…" Sara said "do you have something for us."

"I have something, but, it isn't what you want to hear…I found trace amounts of…insulin, in the needles" he waited for their reactions and they came at the same time.

"What!" Someone who was passing by stopped walking at their loud exclamation, at the look he got from the two annoyed CSI's, he hurried on his way.

"This can't be right" Sara objected.

"I knew you'd say that, so I checked again…"  
"And?" Warrick asked with a glimmer of hope.

"Same result…sorry."

"There has to be something…that needle hasn't been dusted for prints yet, has it?" Sara asked.

"No…of course, she could have switched syringes."

"Wouldn't her prints be on them anyway?" Greg asked.

"She said she doesn't touch them and when she gave them to us they were in their case" Sara told him.

Fifteen minutes later they had their answer, Heidi Hall _had _handled the syringes that she claimed she hadn't touched "this doesn't prove murder" Warrick said, "it should be enough to get a warrant to search the house again though."

"She almost got away again."

"She's never had us on her tail before though" Warrick said with a smile.

*

Heidi smiled brightly when she answered the door; her smile soon faded though when she found out the reason for their visit…her tears began again.

"Did you have to practice crying or does it just come naturally for you" Brass asked as he took the warrant from her, she didn't reply and instead walked into the living room…her tears had magically disappeared. It didn't take long for them to find the other syringe, she may have been imaginative in the lying department but when it came to hiding evidence she simply hid things under the bed. "I know it isn't as exotic travelling to England, New Zealand, Australia or The Bahamas but you're little trip to the police station should be just as fun…you're stay will be a lot longer too" Brass smirked.

"I…I didn't do anything" Mrs Hall said meekly, her acting wasn't nearly as believable as before.

*

Mrs Heidi Hall was buried under a mountain of evidence and no amount of lying was going to save her, her fingerprints were found on the syringe that her husband had used, as well as small amounts of strychnine inside. Once they'd told her she was under arrest she began telling the truth, about her last husband's murder at least. They couldn't pin the others on her…that would change though with a few calls to the other police departments that had handled the other cases concerning Mrs Hall, now they knew what to look for.

Grissom walked over to Sara and Warrick as she watched Mrs Hall being led away, she turned to look at them and gave them a murderous stare "if looks could kill…" Warrick started.

"We'd be fine…she'd rather use poison" Sara finished.

"God work on the Hall case" Grissom congratulated them "Sara, can I talk to you for a minute?"

"I gotta be somewhere" Warrick said "see you later" he left his two colleagues alone in the corridor.

"Yeah, you wanted to tell me something earlier," said Sara remembering they're previous conversation "you said I could help you with something."

"Actually…its more what I can do for you." They were interrupted by someone shouting at them down the corridor "what's he doing here? Charges have been dropped again him" Grissom enquired as Tony Thorpe was led to the cells. Sara smirked "What's going on here?"

"He's under arrest."

"But he didn't kill that kid" Grissom followed Sara as she walked over to join Brass and the extremely angry Tony Thorpe.

"What the fuck is going on!" 

"You're under arrest for the murder of Pamela Adler" Sara said as her smile grew bigger. Grissom gave her a quizzical look "She died an hour ago" she told Grissom sadly "I guess she'd rather have died than let you kill someone else."

"You can't do this bitch!"

"I am doing this…you remember what we told you, right? If she dies within a year and a day of the crime then it's murder. Four more days and you'd have gotten away with it" Sara couldn't help but gloat, Thorpe struggled but he wasn't going to escape. 

Brass led him away "two convictions in one day, I'm impressed" Grissom was proud of her.

"I guess her need for justice overcame her will to live…so, what did you want me for?"

"You're going on vacation" she opened her mouth to protest but Grissom put up his hand to silence her, he needed to say this or he wouldn't say it at all. "I knew you wouldn't accept my offer so I've all ready got the tickets so you can't object…"

"Ticket_s_?"

"And just in case you _did _insist you can't go, I have left Catherine in charge so _I_ can go on vacation too…I will personally escort you to the airport. And so you can't get off the plane at the last minute…which you would try to do if someone wasn't there to stop you, I am going to chaperone you." He stopped for a breath "Then we're going to book into a hotel…and I'm going to take you to dinner" he finished and looked at her to see her reaction. "You said that I told you to get a life…and I want you to…" unsaid words hung in the air.

__

With me

Sara looked at him.

__

With Grissom

He wants me

Say yes

I can't speak

Nod your head

Say something!

Do something!

He's leaving…

He thinks I don't want to

Speak God damn it!

Where did he go?

Sara looked around the corridor, the sound of fading footsteps breaking out of her thoughts.

__

He left

I waited too long

A door was still swinging on its hinges, he'd gone to the car park, she ran down the corridor and flung open the door, Grissom heard and turned around, her heart beat wildly in her chest "where are we going?"

__

The End

So, tell me what you think of this one…review*

A/N - Thank you to Crime Scene Investigator and Jane Doe for reviewing, and to those who I hope will review this chapter, thanks for reading.

A/N 2 - The stuff about Strychnine is true and I hope I've got everything about it correct.


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